Interview: Derek Milman, author of ‘Scream All Night’

Interview: Derek Milman, author of ‘Scream All Night’

Joyce: Welcome to HEA, Derek! Please tell us a bit about your new release, Scream All Night.

Derek: It’s about a teenager named Dario Heyward who grew up in a Gothic castle that doubled as a B-horror movie studio called Moldavia. After being cast in one of the studio’s biggest cult hits, Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun, and being abused by his father during production, Dario got legally emancipated and moved into a group home. He’s about to turn 18 and is trying to decide what to do about his future, when he gets called back home (by his much older brother Oren) because their 91-year-old father is dying. In a total shock to Dario, he inherits the studio and has to figure out if he should save his family legacy, which means confronting his figurative demons, as well as the ones made out of papier-mâché. Moldavia is a zany place, to say the least; there’s a lot of pain for Dario there. But also the broken remains of a family he never had, as well as Hayley, his one true love, who he had to leave behind when he fled at age 12.

Joyce: What inspires your book ideas?

Derek: Oftentimes, news articles, paintings, photographs or — and this is funny — mishearing things people have said. Someone will say something absolutely wacko, but it turns out I just totally heard them wrong. Then I think: That should go in a book. And guess what?

Joyce: Is there an idea out there that you wish you’d thought of?

Derek: Mary Shelley is obviously a genius to have come up with the idea of a mad scientist who creates a literal monster from mixed-up dead-body parts. It’s such a brilliant approach to some serious themes — namely, never mess with nature, the definition of life, and it’s a seriously heartbreaking and terrifying novel. So, yeah, that one — I’ll totally let myself be jealous of Mary Shelley!

Joyce: What distracts you the most when you’re trying to write?

Derek: Without a doubt social media, and my never-ending commitment to it.

Joyce: Do you write by the seat of your pants, or do you carefully plot your stories?

Derek: I take loose notes in a notebook, in a café, and then I will draft from those notes at a computer. I don’t work from a formal outline, but I have enough to go on that I’m not staring at a blank screen, and a blinking, mocking cursor, which is what writers fear the most.

Derek: I’ll take shots from a can of whipped cream — literally fill my mouth up like a little kid — and then swallow a giant gob. It’s a great sugar rush, and there’s something very satisfying about the physical act of it.

Joyce: Do you listen to music while you write? What are some tunes on your playlist?

Derek: I listen to a lot of atmospheric electronica and hazy Dream Pop when I write: Boards of Canada is a favorite, but also Aphex Twin, Beach House, Wild Nothing and The Radio Dept.

Joyce: What would be your dream vacation?

Derek: Exploring Tokyo, and eating the best sushi of my life in a hidden cave underneath some mall at the edge of a mysterious mountain, which seems to be what happens to anyone I know who goes to Tokyo. It just looks beautiful and fascinating to me.

Joyce: What do you do in your spare time?

Derek: I run, bike and go to see lots of movies and art exhibitions during off-hours, when the museums are quieter, echoing and nearly empty.

Joyce: What’s coming next, or what are you working on now?

Derek: I am editing my second Young Adult novel, coming in 2019 from James Patterson’s imprint at Little, Brown. It’s a Hitchcockian thriller about a gay teenager who gets caught up in a case of mistaken identity and goes on the run both from government agents and cyberterrorists, everyone trying to use him to their own ends.

Joyce: Thanks, Derek!

About Scream All Night:

Dario Heyward knows one thing: He’s never going back to Moldavia Studios, the iconic castle that served as the set, studio, and home to the cast and crew of dozens of cult classic B-horror movies. It’s been three years since Dario’s even seen the place, after getting legally emancipated from his father, the infamous director of Moldavia’s creature features.

But then Dario’s brother invites him home to a mysterious ceremony involving his father and a tribute to his first film—The Curse of the Mummy’s Tongue. Dario swears his homecoming will be a one-time visit. A way for him to get closure on his past—and reunite with Hayley, his first love and costar of Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun, a production fraught with real-life tragedy—and say good-bye for good. But the unthinkable happens—Dario gets sucked back into the twisted world of Moldavia and the horrors, both real and imagined, he’s left there.

With only months to rescue the sinking studio and everyone who has built their lives there, Dario must confront the demons of his past—and the uncertainties of his future. But can he escape the place that’s haunted him his whole life?

About Derek

Derek Milman has worked as a playwright, screenwriter, film school teacher, DJ and underground humor magazine publisher. A classically trained actor, he has performed on stages across the country and appeared in numerous TV shows, commercials and films. Derek currently resides in Brooklyn, where he writes full time. Scream All Night is his debut YA novel. Night Flight, coming in 2019, will be his second novel for young adults.